1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of fasteners generally used to fasten the wheels of a vehicle to the axle hubs so as to provide an encasement of the threads of the studs thus protecting the studs against corrosive atmospheres. More particularly the present invention employs a reflective surface in the end of the lug nut to provide a safety feature which allows a vehicle to be easily seen from the side in the dark. Additionally, this lug nut provides a pleasing appearance to the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is available today a large variety of fastening means for fastening a vehicle wheel to the axle hubs in particularly by use of a standard nut with a conical bottom section thereon for centering the wheel on the studs to provide a centered wheel on the axle hub. Most of these lug nuts are of a standard variety and allow a portion of the threaded stud to protrude through the end thereof so as to assure by visual inspection the tight engagement of the lug nut against the wheel on the threaded stud. This has been permissible since generally a hub cap is utilized to cover the central portion of the vehicle wheel to provide the environmental protection necessary to prevent substantial corrosion or wear of the threaded portions of the studs which makes removal of the lug nut very difficult.
Since in some instances the hub cap is undesirable with regard to visual aesthetics, weight which requires more energy to propel and from a safety standpoint of retention of the hub cap on the automobile wheel, decorative wheels are now being utilized which do not employ the use of a hub cap. With the use of such a wheel, it has become necessary to find an alternative method of providing environmental protection for the stud. The capped lug nut is an alternate form of protecting the stud on the wheel hub. Many of these prior existing decorative lug nuts are tapped from one side only using a blind hole from the other end thus causing a manufacturing difficulty since these lug nuts must be machined instead of being formed. These lug nuts can only be tapped from one end such that the tap must be backed out causing a higher incidence of tap breakage. This tapping method is much slower than the conventional thru tapping operation which is usual practice today.
Furthermore, the capped lug nut of necessity is longer than was previously utilized since a space is needed for the tapping chips and the taps utilized to thread such lug nuts are unable to provide a clean full thread to the end of the lug nut. The lug nut must have enough full threads to assure the wheel is securely tightened before stud thread bottoms out.
Another type of axle nut or capping axle nut utilizes a fully threaded nut having a flange and seat at one end thereof so as to accept a suitably fashioned end cap which is placed within the confines of the flange. The flange of the lug nut is then crimped or otherwise machined over the end cap. This type of an arrangement necessitates the use of an additional manufacturing step of closing of the flange over the end cap and tends to come loose after the lug nut has been removed and tightened in service.
Another approach is to use a standard lug nut and then laminate it with a cover of polished stainless steel to provide decorative effect and a means of holding an end cap firmly in place over an end of the lug nut. This approach also necessitates the use of extra manufacturing steps all of which added to the cost of the resulting lug nut. Also it tends to come loose after the lug nut has been removed and tightened in service.
Therefore, it would be exceedingly advantageous in terms of reducing manufacturing costs to provide a fully threaded lug nut having a capping arrangement that requires little or no extra manufacturing in terms of additional costs.